title: Investigation of cytokine levels and their association with SCORAD index in adults with acute atopic dermatitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with increasing frequency over the last decades, especially in adults. Cytokines orchestrate atopic skin inflammation. Objectives  The aim of this study was to compare serum levels of cytokines in adult patients with acute AD (AD1) with other groups of AD patients and controls and investigate the possible association between such cytokines and disease severity.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured cytokine levels using flow cytometry in 21 adult patients with acute AD, 12 adults with chronic AD, 10 children with acute AD and 10 healthy adults.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Flow cytometry analysis of cytokines revealed that interleukin 10 (IL-10), IL-6, interferon γ (IFN-γ) and IL-4 levels were significantly decreased in AD1 group compared with controls, whereas IL-2 and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) did not differ. Comparison of AD1 group with adults chronic phase group showed that IgE, eosinophil and IL-2 levels remained unaltered, whereas IL-10, IL-6, IFN-γ, IL-4 and TNF were significantly decreased. SCORAD and IgE levels were significantly increased, IL-10, IL-6 and IFN-γ were decreased and TNF, IL-2, IL-4 and eosinophil levels remained unchanged in AD1 group compared with children acute phase group. Within AD1 group correlation analysis revealed that IgE and TNF levels were significantly associated with AD severity. Coefficient of determination analysis revealed that TNF and IgE levels could explain 49.14% and 35.28% of the variance of SCORAD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data indicate that serum IgE and TNF levels correlate with AD severity and that serum cytokines are downregulated in AD1 group. Further studies are clearly needed to elucidate cytokines' role in adults with AD.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Dermatology and Venereology Microbiology, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. svakirlis@hotmail.com
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vakirlis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lazaridou
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Tzellos
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gerou
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chatzidimitriou
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ioannides
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007073:Immunoglobulin E